by Kelly Lewis

Katie’s Rise

As a member of the lower class, Katie was raised without materialistic luxuries in life because her single mother whom was still as child herself didn’t have the means to provide more than the absolute bare necessities to sustain a meager life consisting of food, shelter, and clothing. Not once did Katie complain about eating the same thing day-in and day-out, nor inquire about the houses they walked past on the way to school every day to and from their modest apartment, and when presented with secondhand clothing she accepted them gracefully as a gift that they were meant to be. Over the years, the situation improved moderately, with her mother and new step Dad, they moved into a house with decent sized yard where they would put out a slip-n-slid and a dough-boy pool every summer and spend their days and nights outside. As a result of her upbringing, she took nothing for granted, worked hard, and appreciated every dollar earned. She climbed a mountain for a view from the top, and reached the top with her feet firmly pressed into the ground. From atop the mountain she indulged herself, family, and close friends with wealth she rightfully earned. After some time, life was comfortable, but she coveted more and off in the horizon there were greater peaks to climb, so she set out to conquer a new mountain and half way up she lost focus and energy, so she plopped down right there in the dirt and sat cross-legged, fanning her hands through the cool, moist earth and it felt wonderful. Soon in a daze, she started to arrange the dirt into nice neat piles that were fit to go in tins for homemade mud-pies. She stopped mid-motion and stared at the organized dirt, and began to hurt inside. She looked up and around at her surroundings and began to frown. In a fit of rage, she destroyed the little pie piles and grasped fists-full of dirt and banged them against the earth and screamed -why, why, why? And then began to cry for what appeared to be no reason at all because she already had it all, or did she?

***

Recently, I’ve been overwhelmed by the propaganda on fame, fortune, and greed. I think in today’s society there is far too much emphasis and separation of class. I believe everyone should be entitled to affordable (free) healthcare and that the wealthy should have higher tax brackets, but I feel as if wealth is pursued for the wrong reasons and used poorly, and I’ll just leave it at that. Katie could be me, someone’s mother, daughter or sister and they could be disappointed with the view once they reach the top and what a shame that would be to have wasted so much time and energy for – nothing, right?

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2 responses to “Katie’s Rise”

Given the budge that Washington’s House of Representatives passed yesterday, I find the timing of your story to be perfect. Our culture has become so divided and sets blame for our woes on those who have no control or voice. And that’s all I have to say about that…. 🙂

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“I’m just a girl in the world…that’s all you’ll let me be...” Southern California Native who gets in trouble for sarcasm, suffers from bouts of OCD, and listens to an eclectic range of music really, really loud especially while driving too fast. Turn up the Punk, Billy, Indie, Alternative, Classic, Folk, Metal, and Grunge, Melodic, Industrial, Electronic and so on you get the point.